Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $3.50.

NKTR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Nektar Therapeutics from $0.50 to $1.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Rodman & Renshaw started coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $2.00 price objective on the stock.

Nektar Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:NKTR opened at $1.18 on Friday. Nektar Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.41 and a 1-year high of $1.93. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1.43 and a 200 day moving average of $0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $217.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.24 and a beta of 0.71.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.03. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 107.31% and a negative net margin of 195.02%. The company had revenue of $21.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.84 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Deep Track Capital, Lp sold 56,000 shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total value of $99,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 18,344,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,652,320. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Deep Track Capital, Lp sold 56,000 shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total value of $99,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 18,344,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,652,320. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 16,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.75, for a total value of $29,137.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 863,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,510,668.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,505 shares of company stock valued at $165,089 in the last quarter. 3.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nektar Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NKTR. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 1,993.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 77,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 74,254 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 101,687 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 23,829 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System acquired a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 186,163 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 37,785 shares during the period. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nektar Therapeutics

Nektar Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing medicines in the field of immunotherapy in the United States and internationally. The company is developing rezpegaldesleukin, a cytokine Treg stimulant that is in phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus and ulcerative colitis, as well as phase 2b clinical trial to treat atopic dermatitis and psoriasis; and NKTR-255, an IL-15 receptor agonist, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to boost the immune system's natural ability to fight cancer.